We’ve been playing with a 100-year-old recipe for German Coffee Cake and, because it was made with yeast, we just had to mess with the recipe until it became a lovely breakfast bread!

Wake up to cinnamon! Because cinnamon is a starring attraction in this lovely little breakfast bread, I’m thinking its nice to punch up that flavor by pulverizing some nice Vietnamese cinnamon bark chips to a fine powder with a blast in a mini grinder and a good mortar and pestle. Surprisingly, this only takes a few minutes. This is absolutely not necessary. Just that, since we’re makin’ this thing from scratch, I thought we may as well ante it up for an amazing hit of cinnamon. And it makes the kitchen, no, the whole dang house, smell heavenly! It starts with a grinder/blender device to pulverize the cinnamon bark chips.

And then you just use a heavy unglazed mortar and pestle (with a nice little weight to it) to turn the ground chips into a wonderfully fine powder. Can you smell the aroma yet?

Sister site with a cousin cake: You may also enjoy our cake post on how to create a simple yeasted German Coffee Cake. Like, when’s the last time you made a cake (well, a breakfast cake) with yeast instead of baking powder or the like? ha! Check out our little homegrown video.

SLOW FOOD WARNING! Actual prep time takes about 12 minutes once you have your ingredients assembled and then it will be 2 one-hour rises, though it may take longer, even an extra hour longer, depending on your yeast and flour and “growing environment”. I know you’re busy so be sure to set aside plenty of time on your first adventure to let your dough rise up and shine. Remember, flour and water and active yeast will rise given enough time, so if it doesn’t rise as fast as you’d expect, give it more time to grow — it will.

Make it a double-double! You may even want to make 2 loaves — one for you and your peeps and one for a kitchen giving gift made with love. This is my girlfriend’s stereoscope. Like who has a stereoscope card with a springer spaniel wearing a bonnet? (I guess it helps if you own the awesome Sherman Oaks Antique Mall.) If you do decide to double this recipe, I recommend preparing each batch of dough separately. You know, that ole’ divide and conquer theory.

What are your favorite bread baking gadgets? I get so many questions about my favorite baking tools and supplies. Like the cherry pitter for our homemade maraschino cherries — that is a lifesaver! So these are my current favorite bread making tools. None of them are necessary, which is why I didn’t include them in the list of required tools for this recipe (though I hope you have, or can get your hands on, the last one). And I hope you can share your favorite bread making tools with us in the Comments.

Level it up! This is how I level cups of loosely measured flour or sugar. A plastic straw (or a chop stick) works perfectly as a great leveling tool.

Super sharp and small! Although I’m hooked on the absolute quality and longevity of Cutco knives, they’re expensive and there are lots of interesting and inventive knives on the market today. Here’s my butter measuring tool. Ho! (It’s also my strawberry cutting knife and my broccoli cutter). 🙂 These inexpensive knives are super sharp and come with a case for inserting the knife blade. I think the knife gets sharpened each time you put it back into its case. And I like the variety of bright colors.

Safe and stable does it! Okay, here’s a great tool that I never knew I needed until I tried it. My nephew gave it to me for Christmas (thank you, John!). It’s a silicone bowl rim that holds different sized bowls absolutely stable on the countertop. It keeps me from chasing a large bowl around the counter. Although it could be my imagination, I swear that once your bowl is firmly rooted to the counter, you feel more confident about the whole shebang.

Long, sharp and serrated! A proper bread knife doesn’t have to be expensive to work well. The goal is to cut through the bread without ripping or tearing it — so a sharp and serrated knife is important and it must be long enough to completely cover the width of the bread (and then some) so that you can achieve an uninterrupted sawing motion.

Quick draw, fast read! My indispensable bread baking tool is a quick-read, flip-open baking thermometer. Just flip it open, poke and read it. I don’t usually use it to check the temperature of the dough at the end of kneading (though I know many who do) but I thought I’d show you how it works with the photo below. However, the temperature of the final baked bread turns out to be quite important because a baked loaf of bread can be dangerously deceptive. In fact, I don’t even know how to ensure a properly baked bread without such a tool. I have a collection of different baking thermometers but their probes are usually quite thick (and mar the beauty of the bread or cake). And most are way too slow to be effective. I wish this one had a lighted display to see the temperature in a dark oven, but it’s small, handy, fast and inexpensive. I haven’t figured out how to rely on a laser-type device yet so if you have a great one to recommend, do share in the Comments.

Look how many times I had to test this cinnamon swirl bread in 5 minute increments past 30 minutes to get the internal temperature to 185! ha! Can you see the probe marks? You can see that I like to check for doneness on the side inserted towards the center so the top of the bread is not spoiled with holes.

Summary of the steps to making a fabulous cinnamon swirl bread:

We’ll start (that’s me and you) by greasing the bottom of the pan, proofing the yeast and chopping some raisins and nuts. Then we’ll mix all ingredients in a big bowl except the raisins and nuts and stir until the flour is mostly incorporated then we’ll fold in the raisins and nuts by hand with a 30-second finger kneading. We’ll set the timer for 8 minutes and give the dough a firm kneading on the countertop, place it in a clean, buttered bowl, cover it with a towel and let it rise for an hour. Then we’ll roll it out (or press it out ’cause it’s really soft and easy to spread), smear it with butter, cinnamon and sugar, roll it up, place it in the baking pan and let it rise for another hour or more until the dough reaches the top of the pan. Next we’ll pre-heat the oven and bake it for about 40 to 50 minutes (maybe tenting it to keep the crust from getting too dark). When it’s hot from the oven, we’ll spread a little butter on top to protect the crust and remove it immediately from the pan to let it cool uncovered for about 15 minutes before slicing with a sharp serrated knife. Then we’ll toast it, butter it and serve that puppy up. Oh yeah!

Directions for Homemade Cinnamon Swirl Bread:
Okay, let’s bake this bread, shall we? It’s going to be an awesome kitchen DIY project! And I do hope you’ll share your baking experience with us…like how long it took for your bread to rise to the top of the pan so we can get a feel for how that’s working.

I’m going to show you each simple step to:

#mixitkneaditriseitswirlitriseitbakeittoastiteatit

Prep the pan!
Use unsalted butter or cooking spray to grease the bottom-only of a 9″ bread pan.
Pan Prep Tip: You can rub the end of a butter cube on the bottom of the pan or use a pastry brush or paper towel to spread it, or just spray the bottom with cooking spray.

Dissolve the yeast!
In a small bowl or cup, mix until incorporated (and check for a little bubbling action):
1/3 cup warm milk (we used 2%)
1 Tablespoon dry rapid rise yeast
Yeast Proofing Tip: If you’re sure of your yeast, then no need for this advance “proofing” step and you can just add the warm milk and yeast right into the main ingredients bowl (that’s what I do).

Mix Tip: Using a heavy whisk or wooden spoon for the first stir alows the flour to coat the wet ingredients to prevent super stickiness on your hands and countertop.

Add in the chopped raisins and nuts on top of the dough and work them into the dough using the tips of your fingers (aka finger kneading) for about 30 seconds until this initial dough is thoroughly blended with:
the prepared raisins
the prepared nuts

Nuts and Raisins: This photo seems to show just raisins being added but add the nuts at the same time.

The dough will look like this after you’ve worked the raisins and nuts into the dough at this initial stage.

Knead it!
Using your fastidiously clean hands and a squeaky clean countertop, set your oven timer or smart phone timer to 8 minutes and knead the dough on the counter for 8 minutes until it is fairly smooth.

Kneading Tip: If your dough feels super sticky you may knead it first in your hands by just smooshing it then pulling and twisting until it becomes less sticky and then completing the kneading with the heel of your hands on the countertop at the point when it doesn’t stick to the counter. If the dough is super-super sticky you can dust it with a little extra flour.
Another Kneading Tip: Use the heel of your hand to firmly press the dough on the countertop then fold the dough over itself and repeat with firm pressure (like, get your hidden aggression out).
Super Special Bread Dough Tip: When the dough is completely kneaded, cup your hands around the sides of the dough and drag it on the counter towards you a couple of times to tighten the dough into a soft ball. The dough ball will spin slightly and the globe shape will tighten up so that it will have a better rise.

Rise it!
Place the round dough ball in a bowl and cover it with a clean towel to rise in a warm place for about 1 hour.
Warm Rising Spot Tip: I like to use the oven with no heat and just a light bulb lit inside the oven to make a nice, warm environment. Second choice is on top of the refrigerator away from pets and away from a cool breeze.

Swirl it!
Roll the soft dough gently on the counter into the a rectangle shape with the width about as long as the bread pan you’ll be using and the length a little longer by about one-third.

Tip: This is a buttery dough so it will spread and shape quite easily. If you don’t have a rolling-pin handy, you can use the bottom of a cookie pan to flatten the dough and then use your hands to form a rectangle shape.

Prepare the swirl by using a pastry brush to cover the dough with:
3 Tablespoons softened unsalted butter

Sprinkle it with:
3 Tablespoons cinnamon

Sprinkle it with:
3 Tablespoons granulated sugar

Roll-out shape: Just a fat rectangle will do it. My roll-out shape is about 9″ wide x 15″ tall.

Use a bench scraper (or a knife) if needed to start a roll going and gently roll ‘er up. Pinch the closing seam lightly with your fingers and keep the seam side down.

Rise it (again)!
Make sure the roll of dough is about the proper size for your baking pan. You may have to slightly adjust the shape at this point.

Smooth-ish Dough Tip: It is important the final dough as smooth as possible, especially the top portions, to help it rise higher.

Gently place the rolled dough in the center of a prepared baking pan.

The dough roll should almost touch or actually touch the ends of the pans but it need not touch the sides of the pan because it will grow.

Pinch the ends closed and then tuck them under at the ends of the pan.

Let it rise uncovered for the second rise for at least 1 hour or until the dough has risen to the top edge of the bread pan, spraying it or sprinkling it with a little water a couple of times during this second rising session. It will look like this when the dough has fully risen to the height of the baking pan. It may take an extra hour or so to rise to the height of the pan so please be patient with your dough while it grows.

Rising Tip: Be sure to let it rise right to the top of the bread pan because when it bakes it won’t rise much more.

Bake it!
Bake it on the center rack at 350 degrees for about 40 to 50 minutes, though your time may vary, so I suggest checking on it after 30 minutes until the internal temperature is about 185 degrees.

Crust Color Tip: This bread tends get quite dark on top so I suggest tenting the top of the baking bread with aluminum foil or parchment paper after 30 minutes to keep it from getting super dark on top.

When it is fully baked and hot from the oven, lightly baste the top of the dough with a gentle spread of unsalted butter (about 2 teaspoons) and then slide it out from the pan to cool on a rack to prevent moisture build up.

Let cool for 15 minutes before slicing to ensure a perfect cut.

Store the bread in a paper bag or just covered in cloth for the first few hours. Thereafter, place the loaf in a plastic storage bag (I like green vegetable bags from the market for this purpose). If you intend to hold it for longer than 3 days, refrigerate it to help keep it longer (perhaps as long as 7 days refrigerated if you will be toasting it for serving).

Toast it!

The flavor of the cinnamon really comes out when this bread is toasted. Honey butter is fun to serve on this toast, oh yum!

Eat it!
Serve it with great morning coffee and fresh-squeezed orange juice and the like and you’ve got some morning paradise on your hands. You may even attract a crowd with the aromas you’ll be creating in your kitchen.

Congratulations! You did this thing. And I know how you’re gonna feel when you sink your smile into your homemade awesomeness! Like this…

Thank you for joining me on this homemade bread baking adventure! I do hope you’re with us on bakethiscake.com (we’ve got charming and historic cakes for you to bake) and Instagram for day to day adventures.

I can’t think of anything more loving than a homemade food gift from the kitchen! So I’ve scoured all the history books and checked on Grandma’s recipes and baked up some old-fashioned Black Banana Nut Bread (the black bananas make all the difference!). This is such an easy wooden spoon recipe that anyone (even the kids) can craft a vintage gift of love from your own special kitchen just in time for holiday gift giving.

Wrap it up real perrty and pack it good.

Then it’s off to the post office with your homemade gift basket. OR if you’re like me, with kids away at college, you know the mailing ropes…Don’t leave home! Your mail carrier can pick up your shipment free during regular mail delivery if you’re using an expedited service like Priority Mail®, Express Mail®, Global Express Guaranteed®, or Merchandise Return services. whoo hoo!

Yesterday’s Banana Bread versus Today’s Tea Cake Style Bread: Today’s version of banana bread (at least the last 90 years of it) is more of a sweet tea cake than the banana bread of yesteryear (which resembled yeast bread made with dried plaintain flour (though I see banana flour back in the news as a gluten-free flour of the future). Go bananas! 🙂

Vintage Recipe Mixing: This recipe is based loosely on the “Banana Nut Bread” recipe found in the ever cool metal-cased 1933 Pillsbury “Balanced Recipes” cookbook. We left out the wheat bran and sour cream, switched up butter for shortening, etc.– and we added tidbits from other vintage recipes –with some Grandma Tips thrown in (like mixing the eggs with the mashed bananas before adding them to the dry ingredients). ha! And the black bananas are a must! ‘Cause that’s the country way. Because we’re using really ripe black bananas (there’s less acid in really ripe bananas), both baking powder and baking soda are needed to add extra leavening power. Aye yie yie! This banana bread thing is more like an art-science-intuition thing. 🙂

So let’s have a go at this wooden spoon recipe. You KNOW there’s no electric beaters required — so please check your electric mixers at the door. 🙂

1. Defrost the Bananas (if yours are stored frozen):
Haul out your best 4 or 5 large black bananas from the deep freeze. if you’re like me, you’ll have a regular stash hidden behind the frozen peas. 🙂 We defrosted our frozen bananas on the counter in about 30 minutes, easily peeled them and they were nice and dark and sweet.
Tip: Black ripe bananas make the best banana bread because they make the cake sweet and golden-dark brown-crusted with those nice dark speckles. (Remember, for our Banana Layer Cake recipe, we used only lightly ripened yellow bananas.)

2. Prep the Oven and Baking Pans:

Set the oven rack to center position and pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare 1 large or 2 small loaf pans by spraying with cooking spray or rubbing them with a little butter. We used King Arthur Flour’s (our sponsor) darling Bake and Give Wood Bakers that don’t require prepping ’cause they are lined with parchment papers.

3. Bring Eggs to Room Temperature:

Place into a small bowl (or cup) of warm water for about 10 minutes to bring to room temperature:
2 large eggs

4. Prep the Nanners:

Using a flat plate, use your favorite mashing tool (mine is a potato masher) to puree:
4 to 5 large very ripe bananas for 1-1/2 cups banana puree
Tip: Give the bananas a thorough mashing as all banana bits will show in the finished sweet bread but don’t go food processor on me here…leave a few bits showing for an extra taste punch. 🙂

Measure out the banana puree and notice how nice and rich the banana puree has become when using extra dark bananas.

1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice (using 1 large lemon)
Tip: My favorite lemon wedge squeezer is shaped like a little bird (and it also seems to catch the seeds). Mine’s inherited and way-old but they seem to have a new version here (we get a lot of requests for where to find one). 🙂8. Work with the Eggs and Nanners and Lemon Juice:

Crack the prepared room temperature eggs into a small bowl or cup and, using a fork, beat them until they are thoroughly mixed.

Stir the fork-beaten eggs into the banana puree and then stir in:
the prepared lemon juice

The final batter lightens up in color and has a lovely aroma even at this stage.

10. Fill ‘er Up and Bake this Puppy!

I like to use an old-fashioned ice cream scooper to deliver the batter to the pans. It seems to help keep the drips at bay. 🙂

I filled the Wood Baker pans about half full for tea cake style cakes.

You can pour all the batter into one pan if you are using just one large loaf pan (the batter should reach to about 2/3 full if it’s all going into one pan).

Bake at 350 degrees. For the smaller pans, bake for about 65 minutes. For the larger bread pan bake for about 75 minutes. Since oven differences can impact the baking time, check on your cakes beforehand. The banana bread will be done when it is somewhat cracked on top, the sides pull away slightly from the edges, a toothpick tests shows clean, the bread springs back a bit when gently pressed at the top center point and the internal temperature reaches about 210 degrees.

Cool the bread for 10 minutes in the pan before brushing the top of the bread with: 1 to 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
Tip: Spreading a little butter on top of the warm bread loaf will help soften the top crust. The initial shine will fade as the cake cools.

Serve this bread warm from the oven or some folks prefer it with a one-day (or more) counter sitting time.

Do you take yours hot with butter? Cooled with softened cream cheese? My auntie likes her banana bread with cream cheese and orange marmalade.

Such a homey kitchen craft. Heck, next time I’m going to double the recipe like Grandma used to do — since it seems to go in a flash. 🙂

If you make 2 small loaves, you’ll have the advantage of being able to sample one and give the other as your special kitchen gift. 🙂

Okay, time to keep one and pack one for a friend. We tucked our homemade kitchen gift into a darling clear cellophane Treat Bag purchased from our good friends at www.ShopBakersNook.com (the gift bags come in a set of 3 with lovely ribbon ties and round cards for inscriptions that loop through the ribbon). In this goodie box I packed up a sampling of fruit teas, chocolates and coffee with the banana bread. All these things travel well in winter (chocolates, cold weather, get me?).

Thank you for joining me on this vintage baking adventure. I hope you’ll hang with us on Facebook (where you’ll get a sneak peek of our testing vintage cake and bread recipes relating to our sister site Bake This Cake!) — and where you’ll find me asking for advice from our baker friends as we make our way through historic recipe quandaries. You might even want to check your grandma’s recipe cards and tip us on what you think might be fun to bake up next. 🙂

If you bake this bread, shoot me a photo at Lesliemak@facebook.com and I’ll post it. 🙂

It’s the time of year for cooking fresh and homemade. Company’s a comin! And you KNOW that starting off from scratch is the real deal. And NOTHING says LOVE more than a kitchen-crafted loaf of soft country bread. Like, what could be nicer when the weather’s cold than a warm slice of homemade pumpkin bread.This bread is glorious! Its made from a simple country white bread recipe with an added dollop of home-roasted pumpkin puree (or even a scoop of organic canned pumpkin puree).

Less than half of a mini cantelope-sized pumpkin’ll do ya for this bread if you’ll be cooking it up the slow food method. But it’s okay to use canned organic pumpkin puree (no sugar added) cause that also works well.

So if you’re making pumpkin pie (like my sister did) using fresh pumpkin for the holidays, save a little for this awesome little bread recipe and you’ll be amazed how delighted your guests will be. This bread doesn’t have a pumpkin pie flavor (because pumpkin recipes usually have cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg — this doesn’t). So the result is just bright and moist and countrified. Oh, and the orange color is pretty dang cute, did I mention that?

We left the city for the river house to join with family and friends — and to count our blessings.

The Merced River this time of year is cold. The salmon are starting to spawn and there’ll be no fishing on the river soon as the river closes down for the winter to let the salmon run.

We’re gathered around the fireplace, reading good books, chatting and cooking up some fun food events for the fam. Since we prep the food on the bar in front of the fire, the whole house grabs a bar stool to watch the action – and maybe to snatch a taste or two of the food action. Won’t you join us for a nice slice or two of this incredible easy-to-prepare homemade pumpkin bread? I think you’re going to love it, I really do.

Click HERE to check out our easy instructions on how to roast a mini pumpkin for pumpkin puree. Basically, just clean a mini pumpkin and throw it in the oven at 350 until it becomes fork tender (like a baked potato), then scrape out the pumpkin and puree it in a food processor or blender until it becomes a thick paste.

Welcome to easy step-by-step old-fashioned bread-making Right on your counter-top! No fancy bread machines required! (And if you have a machine, just put that thing away!) Just lock and load the dough on a lightly floured counter top and pull out a tiny bit of muscle power and you’re off. Don’t forget to haul your friends or your kids to the kitchen to watch or help. And kick up the music ’cause it’s cool and fun to make your own lovely homemade scratch bread or rolls just like great-grandma used to do.

Here’s how to make lovely homemade yeast rolls…

Plop the ingredients into a large bowl.

Tip: A yeast packet is about 2-1/2 teaspoons of yeast. You can use rapid rise or bread machine yeast or 1 refrigerated cake or just about any other type of yeast for this recipe.

Double tip: Bread flour or all-purpose flour will do the trick and unsalted butter is best but not required.

Triple tip: In the photos, t=teaspoon, T=Tablespoon.

Stir the bread batter it with a wooden spoon…

Stir it until it forms a nice ball…

Dust a little flour on the counter-top and knuckle into the dough, flapping it over and pushing with the heel of your hand. Set the timer and turn on your favorite music…